Create a Beautiful and Dramatic Scene With Photo Manipulations

Mohammad Jeprie on May 12th 2010 with 48 Comments Tutorial Details

Program: Adobe Photoshop CS+ Difficulty: Beginner Estimated Completion Time: 20 Minutes

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Final Product What You'll Be Creating

oda! "e "ill learn a number of techni#ues to help !ou add drama to a photo manipulation. $e "ill to do this b! learning ho" to combine t"o pictures to create a pictures#ue bac%ground& ho" to dra"

long hair manuall! using Photoshop brushes& as "ell as ho" to add some ad'ustment la!ers to add dramatic effects to the final image. (et)s get started*

Resources

S%! from e%oh+stoc% ,ield from night+fate+stoc% Girl from iardacil+stoc% ,loral Brushes from fate-oom .air Brush Set from falln+stoc% .air Brushes from para+vine Butterfl! from shoofl!+stoc%

Step 1
Create a ne" file& si-e /000 p1 "ide and 2/22 p1 high at a resolution of 200 pi1els3inch. Paste field to ne" file.

Step 2
Add la!er mas%. Activate gradient tool. 4ra" linear gradient from blac% to "hite.

Step 3
5oom in until !ou can see all the details. Paint unneeded bac%ground "ith blac% to remove it.

Step 4
Paste s%! underneath field la!er. he colors "ill not match the field so "e "ill have to fi1 it. ,rom the ad'ustments panel clic% Color Balance "ith setting sho"n belo".

Step 5
4o"nload the girl picture. Create ne" path and "ith pen tool dra" path around her. Avoid selecting her hair. $e)ll 'ust recreate it in a fe" steps.

Step 6
.it Cmd+6nter to convert path into a selection. Cop! the girl and paste it into the ne" bac%ground. Press Cmd+ for transformation and "hile holding shift drag its corner until she is the appropriate si-e.

Step 7
Before "e proceed "ith this tutorial& "e "ill need to fi1 some small details. She has transparent sleeve and it has to reveal some bac%ground behind her. o do this& add la!er mas%& select soft brush "ith lo" opacit! 7/0+2089& then paint it "ith blac%.

Step 8
Activate field la!er. Select some field behind her. .it Cmd+: to duplicate it to a ne" la!er. hen hit Cmd+shift+; to move it to the top la!er.

Step 9
Add a la!er mas% to the ne" field. ,or mas%ing grass& Photoshop has a ver! useful brush in its default set& named 4une Grass. So& right clic% and select it. <emove the chec% mar% in front of Color 4!namics. =e1t& ma%e sure !our foreground color is set to blac% and la!er mas% is selected. Start painting until the girl loo%s li%e standing in the middle of the field.

Step 10
o strengthen the illusion that the girl is standing inside the field& it)s a good idea to have something in front of her. Change our brush to standard round brush& paint some flo"ers "ith "hite to reveal it.

Step 11
=o" let)s dra" her hair. But before doing that& ma%e sure the la!er mas% is active. Paint her hair "ith blac% using a soft& lo" opacit! brush until it is transparent.

Step 12
(oad the hair brush set. his set consisted of some long premade hairs. >sing the brush tool& Cmd+clic% her hair to sample its color. ?pen brush panel 7,@9& clic% and drag the inside previe" bo1 to rotate brush tip. ?nce !ou)ve found perfect si-e and position clic% to dra" an instant long hair. o get a natural color& be sure to sample various color from the hair. <epeat this step until !ou have enough hair.

Step 13
After step /2 !ou ma! find that the result isn)t entirel! realistic. Af !ou loo% closel! !ou ma! find that there are repeating ob'ects in her hair. his is a common problem "hen using premade brushes. he best "a! to avoid this is b! dra"ing some hairs manuall!. Grab the hair brushes set from here. (o"er !our brush opacit! to /@+2@8. Af !ou use a tablet& then that)s a good thing. Bou can activate its Pen Pressure from the Brush Panels. Manual painting is not eas!. At ma! help to "or% "ith a lot of la!ers. hat "a! !ou can al"a!s delete la!ers that !ou don)t li%e. Belo" are the steps A too% "hile creating the hair.

Step 14
=o"& "e need to add some lighting to the girl. o do this "e)ll use non+destructive dodging and burning. .old cmd and clic% =e" (a!er icon. Choose >se Previous& ModeC ?verla!& and ,ill "ith. Activate burn tool& set opacit! to 208 and start painting to ma%e her dar%er. 4o the same "ith the dodge tool for opposite effects. <emember& if !ou hold alt "hile dodge tool selected& then !ou)ll have burn tool. Same thing happen to burn tool.

Step 15
=o"& A)ll add dar% border around the image. .it ctrl+A to select all. Clic% 6dit D Stro%e. >se ver! large "idth and clic% ?E. Soften the border using Gaussian Blur "ith a ver! big radius.

Step 16
.it ctrl+ . .old ctrl and drag its corner until !ou find nice lighting.

Step 17
o add fa%e light dra" a poligonal selection and fill it "ith "hite. Add ver! big Gaussian Blur and lo"er do"n la!er)s opacit! to 208.

Step 18
4ra" the girl)s shado" on the field.

Step 19
Grab the butterfl! set. he butterflies are alread! in a transparent png file& so !ou 'ust need to select it and drag it to the image. <esi-e it to match its proportion. 4on)t forget to add shado"s for a realistic loo%.

Step 20
(oad the floral brushes. r! to e1periment "ith the brush shape. Combine them to get a uni#ue shape li%e A did here& then add some te1t in the 6nglish font found from dafont.

Step 21
,or final ad'ustment& select the s%! la!er and use Brightness3Contrast to raise its (ightness. A also added an ad'ustment la!er Photo ,ilter "ith a "arming filter on top of the image.

Conclusion
A hope !ou have en'o!ed this tutorial and learned something ne". Bou can vie" the final image belo" or vie" a larger version here.